After the flood

Spain, like many other countries across the world, is in the grip of a phenomenon that claims dozens of lives every year. It is responsible for floods, heatwaves and wildfires, as well as rising levels of public anger and distrust - a phenomenon I'll call political warming. If we don't protect ourselves against this harsh new reality, we're doomed. I refer not to climate change, but to political corruption and incompetence.

I'm exaggerating, of course - but only slightly. A year on from the floods that killed over 230 people in Spain, most of them in Valencia, there is no evidence that the relevant authorities have learned any lessons. Carlos Mazón, the PP president of Valencia, is still in office, prompting the huge demonstration seen in Valencia last Saturday; and experts are concerned that not enough is being done to develop hydraulic infrastructure that could mitigate the damage caused by future floods

Unveiling a plan to combat the effects of climate change in September, Pedro Sánchez talked as if global warming had only just begun. He spoke of the need to act "immediately", making one wonder what exactly his government has been doing in this department since it took power in 2018.

Sánchez's plea for long-overdue urgency reminded me of a phenomenon that British readers of SUR in English will be familiar with. Whenever there's heavy snowfall in the UK, the nation grinds to a halt, as if surprised by a break in conditions that are typically equatorial. Perhaps the Spanish and British governments don't need expert advice from climatologists; perhaps they just need to be reminded that their countries are, respectively, very hot and very cold, and have been for a long time.

To avoid a repeat of last year's tragic events in Valencia, Sánchez said that "we need to do as a US president once advised when he said that the moment to fix your roof is when the sun's shining and not when it's raining" - a reference to John F. Kennedy's 1962 State of the Union address. One of his proposals is to establish a state civil protection agency to deal with natural disasters; but poor communication between national and regional governments is already a problem, so adding a third entity to the mix will hardly streamline crisis response.

The trouble is that it's been pouring for years. And the sun isn't shining, it's blazing - and has been for decades. So why are floods and wildfires still wreaking havoc? And why is the right still pretending that climate change is the sole concern of tofu-eating lefties?

The anger seen on the streets of Valencia last weekend shows that political warming is undeniable. Incompetence rages across the land, devouring citizens' trust with the intensity of a wildfire. That's more scary than anything you'll see this Halloween.